The Wolf, The Boy and The Butterfly Effect
by Always A Dragon
Summary: What if Liam didn't inform Whitewood of his findings? What if he took things into his own hands, following in Abraham's footsteps? And when he does, Maddy, Rhydian and Jana must face the deadly consequences. The stakes have never been higher. Set during and after Episode 13 Season 2
1. Evidence

**A/N: please note that the POV will change throughout the story (it will be noticeable though). **

**A/N: What if Liam didn't inform Whitewood of his findings? What if he took things into his own hands? And when he does, Maddy, Rhydian and Jana must face the deadly consequences. The stakes have never been higher. From the beginning, then...**

* * *

"It knows we came here." Liam said, standing up. He brushed off a bit of dirt, and his eyes adjusted to the lighting. Liam pointed his phone around the room, keeping a strong hold on it. Scratch marks covered several wooden posts, and a brightly glowing lamp stood in the corner. A door on the other side of the room stood open, light shining through it. He could see stairs. Liam knew he had found the right place. He pointed the phone at his face, and gritted his teeth despite every sense telling him to turn tail and run. "I'm still going in." he took his first step into the room -den, he corrected- with his heart pounding and his palms sweating. A mix of fear and excitement pumped through his veins. He had nothing to defend himself with, he realised, but there was little he could do about it now. Liam took a deep breath, and almost immediately, most of his fear left him. No. this wasn't scary. This was exhilarating. He took another look around the room, noting how much it resembled Aern Hollow, especially the roof. "Those beams are like those in Aern Hollow. This is a werewolf den!" He said to the camera, a grin lighting up his face. A werewolf. That's what was behind Shannon's Beast, behind the animal disappearances a few months ago. Everything made sense, now. He even had a vague idea of who the werewolf was… _Wait until Jimi and Tom find out,_ he thought with satisfaction, _I'll be rich. _"Nothing else makes sense." He span the camera around, focusing on scratch marks, bowls of chicken and water, the tears in the lamp-shade. He was so preoccupied he only noticed the sound of hurried footsteps just in time. Suddenly, people burst through the door, and Liam recognized them at once. Liam's fear returned, though he kept the phone-camera trained on them. Maddy ran in first, her eyes wide and alarm written clearly over her face. She knew why he had come, and it was a confession if ever Liam had seen one. People who only could be her Mum and Dad followed, and the next person almost caught Liam by surprise. Rhydian Morris skidded past the doorway, his expression practically identical to the three before him. Liam stepped back, trying not to let his fear show. He was not their prey. They could not harm them. Then Liam's surprise and shock doubled as Tom ran in. It made sense, though- he had always been one of the best at football.

Maddy ran up to him, clearly panicking.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, and Liam stared at the black vein running up her neck. He had gone to school with her for ever- when exactly had she been bitten? When had she been replaced with a monster? Her dad shoved her aside, and Liam stepped back some more, his previous excitement gone. The man -werewolf- had yellow eyes, the pupils small and most definitely not human. He was in a rage, black veins running up his cheeks.

"How did you get in here?" he yelled, spit flying, and thrust his face into Liam's. "Get out, or I call the police!" he pointed to the place where the brick wall had been smashed in, flinging his arm out in a savage motion. Liam stood his ground. He mustn't move, not now. He would be like Abraham, brave and strong. A hero. "DID YOU HEAR ME?!" The werewolf yelled again. He was violent and very much dangerous.

Liam spoke up, not daring to think of the consequences.

"I know what you are." He gulped but remained eye contact. "I know what you all are." He looked at those in the den, making sure he subtly videoed that Maddy, her mum and dad all had yellow eyes and black lines running up there necks. He had proof, now. He knew. There were more footsteps, and Liam's eyes grew wider as Shannon ran in, her face pale. Was she…?

Liam decided to act. Six werewolves were too much, and Liam could feel every instinct telling him to move. He had what he wanted, and for now that was enough. Liam turned around, running as fast as he could towards the tunnel. He could hear Shannon shouting at him.

"Liam, wait!"

He ignored her, crawling down the tunnels as fast as possible. If the werewolves thought he was worth coming after…

"I can explain," She yelled desperately, but already her voice was faint. "Please listen to me!"

He turned a corner and all the noise faded. Liam hurried on, aware of every tiny sound, every sense tingling. After a few minutes, he realised he was safe, and stopped to breathe. Liam pulled out his phone, shivering at the near miss. He watched the video, and started to grin. Yes, he was sure of it. Maddy was no human, and he had proof.

* * *

**(A/N: Liam doesn't show the video to anyone. There is no detention. He doesn't show the video to Whitewood. Maddy's oral presentation goes on like it does in the actual episode. This is set the day after Liam videoing everyone.)**

Everyone turned their heads as Maddy walked through the double doors, not speaking. She stopped, raised her hands and clicked her fingers. Everyone was silent, looking at her in anticipation. People shuffled backwards, and a few seconds later, someone gasped. Liam narrowed his eyes as he realised why. Two dogs -no, wolves, definitely wolves- ran in. He leaned backwards as he saw the intelligent eyes, the markings on their fur. These weren't wolves… They had to be…

"Still think that was a werewolf you saw? Huh?" Jimi elbowed Liam, an awed look on his face. Liam didn't answer, he was struggling not to grin. Maddy was so stupid. It was like handing him evidence on a silver platter. They weren't wolves, he was sure of it. You couldn't tame wolves, not like that. They were werewolves, and here was proof they didn't just transform on a full moon. He watched Maddy and the other two werewolves walk up the steps. Maddy clicked her fingers, and the wolves sat. Everyone oohed and aahed. Maddy looked around the hall, a mock-puzzled expression on her face.

"I've been hearing a lot about werewolves, recently." She remarked, and locked eyes with Liam. She smiled at him, but he didn't smile back. "But today _isn't _a full moon, and you see _these _are our family pets. A pair of domesticated Timber Wolves. You need a special licence to keep them, so we don't really take them off our land very often. Farmers tend to get a bit jumpy when they see a wolf." Maddy locked eyes with Liam again, and he moulded his face into a surly expression, pretending to go along with it. "These wolves are tame and friendly, but some people hate wolves, so we have to keep them secret to keep them safe." _Yeah, to keep your secret safe, _Liam thought. At the front of the room, Katrina started to get out their phone, and Maddy turned her attention to her. "Now, they're not used to crowds or bright lights," she remarked, raising her eyebrows slightly. She was a good liar, and it must come from years of practise. _If they are so afraid of bright lights, why was there a bright lamp in the cellar? _Liam thought, his mouth twitching. He wasn't fooled in the slightest. "So please don't pet them or shine anything at them, 'cause they will get angry." Katrina put her phone down with a scowl. "And that's really why only our family and a few close friends know about them." _A few close friends… Maybe Shannon, Tom and Rhydian weren't werewolves… Maybe they were just in on the secret… That made more sense, actually… they had all been defending _Maddy, _not themselves… _Maddy continued speaking, smiling "We keep them in an old cabin, in our house. It was built about 300 years ago, and we think it's some kind of medieval mine, but the wolves like it." _Surely an old mine would be well documented. _Liam thought. He would have known if there had been one. "We make it like home for them." There was a pause, and Jimi took this as an opportunity to whisper to Liam about how stupid he had been. Liam ignored him, keeping his attention on the werewolves on the stage. "Any questions before I start talking about their diet?" Maddy asked, and at least 7 hands went up. Liam snorted quietly. He wouldn't buy into the monster's lies. He knew the truth, and crossed his arms. He could wait.

* * *

**(A/N: Jana doesn't leave, and Alric isn't exiled. She was told earlier that day about the whole Liam-going-to-the-cellar debacle. She also wasn't at the house when that stuff happened.)**

Jana hissed, watching as Liam walked home at the end of the day. He had been quiet, not apologising, hardly talking to Jimi and Tom. She had caught him staring at Maddy in History, a thoughtful look on his face. Jana could tell that this was a very dangerous human. It had been a very clever idea of Maddy's, but she wasn't entirely sure it had worked. Yet again, she could do nothing, and only wait for Liam to calm down. That was what Shannon had said to do, when Liam had shown the video of Maddy in wolf-form jumping up. No-one believed Liam anyway, she told herself, and it wasn't like he had any proof of Maddy _being _a Wolfblood. They were safe, for now.

Still, her instincts told her something was off…

"Jana?" someone called, tearing her attention away from Liam. She looked up at Rhydian, who was waiting for her, along with Tom. Maddy and Shannon had already gone. "You coming?" Jana stood up, flicking her red hair behind her. She walked after Rhydian and Tom, pushing Liam from her mind. She had no proof that Liam did know, and to follow him would only raise suspicions. She would have to leave it at that, and hope for the best.

* * *

Instead of walking straight home, Liam detoured, and jogged over to his old garden shed. He switched on the old lamp that swayed at a single small gust of wind, and walked over to the old box. It was covered in dust, the old plaque barely readable, but he opened it, gazing at the velvet-covered interior. 11 silver bullets sat in their case, and he picked one up, rolling it around his fingers. It had been polished many times recently. Liam strode over to the other side of the shed, where a musket was propped up on a shelf. He had been promised not to use it, but after what he had seen, he knew that his safety was more important than promises. He grabbed the bullets, closed the box, took the musket and went off to one of the more distant areas of the farm. He had a vague idea how to use it, and he was sure with some practice he could become rather good at it. Liam grabbed his phone from his pocket and texted his Dad, saying he was at Jimi's for a couple hours. His parents would never know. Liam felt a grin spread across his face.

**A/N: And so begins my first Multi-Chapter story. I'm not sure when I'll next upload, but I've got several more chapters I've currently written (and some more I still need to write), so I definitely will upload. **

**thankee for reading,**

**-Always A Dragon**


	2. Suspicions

**A/N: If all goes well the next chapter shall be uploaded next ****Tuesday.**

**Please review and tell me what you like / don't like.**

"Don't you think Maddy looks a bit… tired?" Liam whispered to Sam, making sure to keep his voice low.

"So?" Sam shrugged, bored, twiddling his pen in his fingers. Liam snatched it away.

"So, it's a new _moon_, Sam. New moon is the opposite of Full Moon." Liam sighed as Sam raised his eyebrows, smirking.

"You think Maddy's a werewolf?" Sam said, in his irritating way. Liam narrowed his eyes. "I thought you gave up on that theory? Maddy keeps wolves, remember?"

Liam glared at him.

"Who's to say Werewolves can't change into wolves whenever they want?" Liam shot back. "I know what I saw."

Sam's only response was a snort.

Liam dropped the topic, turning his attention to Mr Jeffries. The teacher clapped his hands together.

"We have a School Camp coming up." He said. Kay groaned.

"Sir," she whined, slumping down "We had a camp only last month…-"

"And we are having yet another one! No excuses, Kay. It's compulsory."

The class groaned. Katrina put up her hand.

"Sir?" She asked curiously. "When _is _the camp?"

Jeffries looked up.

"Two weeks from now." He said, and was met with an even bigger groan from the class. Liam turned to face Sam, and stopped, looking over his friend's shoulder. Yes, he had definitely seen Maddy, Rhydian and Jana all exchange frightened looks. Liam frowned. Two weeks from now… 14 days… If it was a new moon now…

"Sam," he began, but was cut off.

"Look, I don't want to hear about it." Sam said angrily. "You made us all look like idiots when you said that there was a Werewolf in Stonybridge. Drop it, okay?"

Liam crossed his arms, thinking. Two weeks away was a full moon, and since the camp was compulsory…

"Can anyone tell me when Harold Bluetooth was born?" Jeffries was saying, looking around the class hopefully. Everyone was either trying to sleep, chatting, or ignoring him. "Anyone?" He sighed as no-one put up their hand. Liam, looking over at Sam, felt the same way.

* * *

Maddy pushed the camping form in front of her dad.

"What's this?" Her dad asked, picking it up. His forehead crinkled, his wrinkles deepening.

"Camping form." She replied, swinging herself onto a chair. "It's compulsory." Her mum walked into the living room with an armful of washing. She put it in a basket before coming up to the table.

"What's this?" she asked, also frowning.

"That's what dad said." Maddy replied, flicking her brown hair over her shoulder. Her dad looked up, having finished reading the form.

"Two weeks." He said. "Maddy, you _know _what's happening in two weeks-"

"The full moon, yes, I know!" She shook her head. "Dad, you act like I can't take care of myself! I'm not a cub anymore. I'll be fine. I was fine at Lindisfarne, wasn't I? There's woods at the campsite, anyway." Her parents still looked sceptical. She was glad she hadn't mentioned that Shannon and Tom had almost found out her secret at Lindisfarne. "If I have to, I can run to the tunnels before the moon rises." Maddy crossed her arms. She could see her dad finally being persuaded. Her mum hadn't stopped frowning. Maddy tried a new tactic. "It would be too noticeable if I didn't go to the camp. Someone would be bound to realise that it was a full moon." Emma nodded, her face clearing. Good.

"Is Jana going?" Her mum asked. Maddy nodded. "I don't like that wolf. She better be careful." Maddy sighed in exasperation. There was nothing she could do that would change her parents opinion about Jana, no matter how much she tried.

"Rhydian's going to the camp." She said quickly. Her parents looked at each other.

"Fine." Her mum said at last.

"Yes!" Maddy yelled, punching the air.

"You're all to stay in the tunnels, though." her mum warned, and Maddy nodded. She grabbed her phone from the table, and sent a text to Rhydian.

_I CAN GO._

* * *

The class sat on the bus, dodging the bits of paper that flew everywhere. Woodland flashed passed the window, the rain hammering on the bus roof. Shouting and chatter filled the air, punctuated by Mr. Jeffries occasional "Settle down, now!"

Liam sat in the seat behind Jimi and Sam. He had dropped comments on Maddy's behaviour all week, yet they still didn't believe him. Finally, he decided the urgency demanded more desperate action. Liam had been cautious to show his friends the evidence, in case they did something stupid, such as delete it or show it the werewolf herself.

"Jimi." Liam poked the shoulder that showed in the gap between the seats. Jimi turned round.

"In case you didn't realise, I'm talking to Sam." He retorted, and attempted to turn back. Liam grabbed his shoulder.

"Here, watch this." Liam passed the phone to Jimi. He took it and looked at it in disgust.

"Is this about your obsession with w-"

Jimi was cut short as Liam drove his nail into Jimi's wrist. Jimi wrenched his hand from Liam, wincing.

"What was _that _about?" he yelped, his disgust now aimed at Liam. Liam placed a finger on his lips, pointed to his eyes and then behind him. Sam frowned, glanced towards the back of the bus, and deepened his frown.

"_She's _watching us." Sam said. All three of them knew who _She _was. Maddy Smith. Liam raised his eyebrows, and Jimi and Sam's expressions changed to that of puzzlement.

"Watch it." Liam pointed to the phone. Jimi pressed the play button, and held it so the phone could only be seen by the three of them. When they got to the bit where the eyes changed colour, Jimi looked back at Liam, an incredulous look on his face. When the video was finished, he opened his mouth but Liam shook his head. In the next few minutes, Liam managed to convey to the other two through hand signals that tonight was the full moon. Sam and Jimi nodded in agreement, and it was decided. They would keep a close eye on Maddy, whatever the cost.

Jana didn't like the fire. It was only the middle of the day, but it was cold, despite the many layers of clothing people chucked on. As a most unfortunate result, Mr. Jeffries decided it would be wonderful to light a fire. It had been a chore, collecting the firewood, as most of it had been wet, and Jana had secretly hoped that there were no dry pieces. Alas, there were _some _after all, and ten minutes later a spark lit the small Tepee of wood. Jana shivered as the flames crept up, engulfing the bark, spurting and spluttering. She looked away, knowing if she didn't, she would panic.

"Are you sure you don't want to come and join us?" Mr. Jeffries called out. Jana, Rhydian and Maddy shook their heads violently, creeping back a bit_. Way to go for subtlety_, Jana thought grimly. Rhydian nudged Maddy, and she nudged him back, both grinning goofily. Jana sighed and rolled her eyes, but smiled as well. The Wolf inside them was itching to run free, to leap into the rain-drenched forest behind them. It was only natural that they would goof around. It was better than the alternative, which was constant mood swings.

"You'll have to join us soon." Mr. Jeffries continued. The three Wolfblood's snapped their attention back to him.

"What?" said Rhydian hoarsely, but Jeffries knew he had heard.

"We're toasting marshmallows."

"But sir-!"

"No excuses Rhydian!"

Rhydian fumbled and spluttered out the worst excuse Jana had ever heard.

"But sir, I- I'm allergic to Marshmallows." Rhydian winced as soon as the words came out of his mouth. Jeffries raised his eyebrows, and the K's snickered.

"Come, now, Rhydian! You've scoffed enough sweets for me to notice. The only way you'll get over your fear is if you actually _face it."_

"Scaredy cat!" Jimi yelled out, and everyone laughed. "Are you scared of fire, Leek Boy?"

"Just sit down." Maddy whispered. "Don't look at the flames."

Everyone laughed, and Rhydian snorted, moving forwards to sit on the log.

"You too, Maddy, Jana." Jeffries said. Jana looked up, horrified.

"Oh- oh no, Mr-"

She was met with jeers and laughter. Humiliated, Jana made her way to the log, sitting next to Rhydian. Why were humans so nasty? She could feel the prickle of heat on her skin, and her heart began to beat, her fingers started to tingle. Jana closed her eyes. _No tingling, no tingling._ It stopped. Maddy and Rhydian's heartbeats were high, so she nudged them.

"Thanks." Maddy whispered back. They were all passed a stick and a marshmallow, and they stuck theirs in the fire. Jana, Rhydian and Maddy didn't dare to look. After a while, Jana took the marshmallow out, and discovered it to be burnt. She flinched, wiped the burnt bits off and ate it. _I definitely prefer them raw, _she thought.

She didn't look up, she didn't see the startled faces of three. She didn't see the knowing glances that passed between them.

* * *

It was early afternoon when the sun finally came out of the clouds. The hiking group was led by Miss. Graham. Katrina, Kay and Kara were at the front of the line, as usual. Also as usual, they were squabbling.

"Give it!" Kara shouted, her shrill voice echoing through the woods. She attempted to reach something in Kay's hand, but Kay held the something high in the air. Katrina reached for it too, yelling fiercely. Rhydian snickered, watching them. Miss. Graham was steadily ignoring the K's, instead lecturing some poor kid about why hiking was good for one's health. Rhydian nudged Shannon, who was gazing around at the woods with fervent interest. He pointed out the squabbling students, and she grinned.

"You'd never think they'd have it in them." Shannon remarked, her plait swinging from side to side.

"Give me back my phone!" Kara shouted, but to no avail. Katrina swung her handbag around, attempting to hit Kay's arm, but Kay dodged, a jeering smile plastered across her face. Kara wrenched her hat off her head, battering Kay with it. Finally, a result. Kay screamed in indignation.

"Miss!" she yelled, still holding the phone above her head. Miss Graham broke off from her conversation. She was very annoyed. In contrast, the kid looked blissfully happy, and Rhydian had to chuckle at this.

"Alright!" the sport's teacher yelled, making everyone in a five kilometre radius stop and stare. It was practically torture on Rhydian's ears, which were turned incredibly sensitive by the effect of the full moon. "Kay, give Kara's phone back RIGHT NOW!" Miss Graham pointed at Kara, her face distorted in anger. Kay scrunched up her own face.

"If I can't have it, she can't have it!" Kay yelled, and with all the force of a professional discus thrower, she hurled the phone over the heads of gasping 16/17 year old's. To Rhydian, it seemed to move in slow-motion, soaring through the air, it's direction clear as crystal. He sprang up what had to be at least two metres, and intercepted the phone, catching it in his hands. He landed on the ground, and felt the grin start to slip off his face. Everyone was looking at him.

"Err…" he held up the phone, "I got Kara's phone…" there was a brief moment of complete and utter silence -even the birds stopped chattering- and then someone started to clap. Within a few seconds, the entire group had joined in, and Rhydian ducked his head, smiling.

"My phone!" Kara ran up to Rhydian, "That was SO awesome!" she said, batting her eyelids at Rhydian. He paused.

"Err, thanks." He replied, baffled, and Kara went back to a group consisting of the very jealous Kay and Katrina.

After a minute, Miss. Graham called everyone to resume the hiking. She stopped, turning to Rhydian.

"You really would have made a very good goalie." She remarked, and walked off. Shannon punched Rhydian in the arm.

"See?" she said, smiling ridiculously, "She really is a nice person when you get to know her."

Rhydian shook her head.

"Only when you're in her good books." He muttered, making them both laugh.

He didn't turn around, he didn't see the slightly-less startled faces of three. He didn't see the knowing glances that passed between them.

* * *

Liam faced Jimi and Sam, a stern look on his face. It was late afternoon, the sun already sinking gracefully towards the horizon.

"The three of them." He whispered, a gleam in his eye. "They're all werewolves. Think about it! Rhydian- no human can jump that high! Jana- did you see the way she flinched from the fire? Wolves hate fire, they won't come near it. Maddy- we have proof enough."

Jimi looked thoughtful.

"What of Shannon and Tom?" he asked, tapping his chin. Liam shook his head.

"Nah, they sat around the fire like it was nothing."

Sam had more pressing matters on his mind.

"The teachers won't let us out, you know."

Jimi rolled his eyes.

"So we _sneak _out, dumb-o."

Sam stood up straighter.

"We can use our phones!" he exclaimed, digging out his phone. "We'll video the transformation!" he turned to Liam. "You'll make sure we get credit, right? When you're all rich and famous?" Liam nodded.

"It's about an hour to sundown, and another half to moonrise-" he began to say, but was cut short.

"Come on, campers!" Mr Jeffries yelled, "Gather round, now!"

* * *

**A/N: The plot thickens...**

**Please ****review!**


	3. Danger

Rhydian stuck his head outside his tent, his eyes already yellow. The teachers were at the other end of the camp, and would never hear him. Rhydian sniffed the air -he could smell Maddy and Jana to his left. They were moving, and he could hear that too, their feet pattering over the leaves. The moon was rising, a perfect white sphere against a backdrop of dark blue sky. Rhydian unzipped the tent all the way, the sound jarring through the stillness that came after nightfall. Tom was inside, awake but staring at his phone, bored.

"'Night." Tom said, his eyes not straying from the brightly lit screen. Rhydian said nothing, instead hopping out the tent, landing on the wet grass. He zipped the tent up again, and stood up. Two figures with golden eyes moved swiftly and silently across his vision, and Rhydian began to grin. He ran, making no sound -nothing a _human _could hear anyway- and faded in amongst the trees. Their trailing branches whipped across his face, but he paid them no heed. Rhydian followed the shadows that streaked far ahead of him, and slowly caught up. Maddy stopped, slamming her heels into the ground, a wolfish grin spreading across her face as she looked up at Rhydian and Jana.

"There's no one here." She whispered, though to the three of them, it was as loud as a shout. "No humans for miles."

Jana grinned, too. It was clear that none of them were thinking rationally, but no-one cared.

"Who needs tunnels?" she asked, dropping to the ground. The other two followed suit. The energy of the moon was running through their veins, and with a thrill Rhydian felt himself change. In a second, Maddy, Jana and him transformed, filled with a sense of pure, complete happiness. Jana tipped her head back, letting out a howl to the gleaming white moon above.

* * *

Jimi raised his eyebrows as Liam pulled a musket -complete with several very shiny, very _silver_ bullets- out from the hollow of dead tree. Sam snorted, with the kind of expression that showed no surprise. _It _was_ like Liam, after all,_ thought Jimi wryly. Liam retrieved the gun, and made the signal to wait. They stood in the cold night air for about a minute, completely silent, completely still. Jimi was considering if taking off his shoe to get out a pestersome stone was worth disobeying Liam's rule, when two figures darted into the trees to his right. There was no need to tell the others -Liam was grinning madly and Sam's eyes were wide. Jimi made to run after the figures, but Liam held out an arm, pointing. Another figure, this one unmistakably of Rhydian, jumped out from his tent, closing the zip before running off. Liam took a few steps forward, and then the three of them were off, darting among the trees, grabbing their phones from their pockets, Liam clutching his musket with savage excitement. It was good luck that Jimi was a fast runner, for he would have certainly lost Rhydian by now if he hadn't been.

The night air was freezing, the wet leaves causing Jimi to skid in different directions. Adrenaline pumped through his veins, his mind racing faster than his feet. Everything made sense, all the puzzle pieces were fitting in now. He held up his phone, hitting the play button on the recorder. The moonlight shone through the gap in the trees, the only source of lighting. The three figures stopped, and Jimi realised with a start that their eyes were golden. _Just like in Liam's video._ They dropped to the ground, and Jimi zoomed in his camera. The change was so quick, so simple, that he almost missed it. Then fur sprouted, snouts formed and within a second, two wolves stood in the place of Maddy, Jana and Rhydian. Sam's jaw dropped, and Jimi gasped. The one with the red fur -Jana, Jimi supposed- tipped her head back, howling to the moon. Liam held up his own phone, clicking like crazy. Jimi gulped and stepped back, uneased by the sight of the howling werewolf. As luck would have it, he stepped on the one twig that wasn't covered by leaves. Crack! _Damn. _Jimi thought, feeling his legs turn to jelly. The three werewolves stopped. It was like something out of a movie, or a cliché book. They all turned their heads towards the sound, slowly, carefully. Their eyes glowed like little lamps and their fur was illuminated by silver moonlight. They started to snarl.

"Jimi…" Sam said warningly, as the biggest one raised its hackles. The wolf's eyes travelled to the phone in Jimi's hand and jumped, growling furiously. Jimi leapt back, slamming into the trunk of a tree. Pain flared through his back and fear through his head as the wolf opened his jaws, snapping shut mere millimetres from the phone and Jimi's hand. Jimi screamed and the wolf landed, rage painted across it's features. There was a deafening bang and a flash as something streaked past the wolf. Jimi tore his eyes away from the werewolf and turned to Liam, who was pale, shaking. The musket was sliding from his hands and it took Jimi a few seconds to realise what had happened. The wolf in front of Jimi turned, sprinting towards the third wolf, whose paw was covered in blood. With a shock Jimi realised it must be Maddy, because of the size and colouring.

"Let's get out of here." Sam said, his voice thick with fear. None of them needed to be told twice. They fled, not daring to think what might happen if the werewolves decided to come back for revenge.

* * *

**A/N: My plan is to update every Tuesday, but I found several plot holes in the next couple chapters and it might take some time to fix that. So if I don't update next Tuesday (Australian Time, that is) just know you have been warned. And as always, it would be AWESOME if you could leave a review, especially constructive criticism, so I know how I could improve this story. Thankee, and hope you enjoy! -Always A Dragon. :P**


	4. The Disappearing Act

**A/N: Maddy, Rhydian and Jana have run away, if that isn't clear. Please ****review!**

* * *

Shannon woke up to the sound of Mr. Jeffries and Miss. Graham shouting for the students to get up. She groaned, wishing that she could just _sleep in _for once. Shannon rolled grumpily over, trying to position herself so she was comfy. Then she realised. _Maddy wasn't there. _Shannon sat up, her red hair a mess. It was a small tent -it would have been obvious if Maddy was there, despite the blurriness that came whenever Shannon's glasses were off. At first, she wondered if Maddy was merely late from coming back from the woods, since last night had been a full moon, but ruled that out, since she knew the moon had well sunk below the horizon by 6.30. Shannon snatched up her glasses, and immediately the blurriness was gone. There was nothing to suggest Maddy had come back in the middle of the night, either. _And, _She realised with a jolt, _neither has Jana. Neither Maddy or Jana have come back. _Instantly she knew something was very wrong. Shannon dressed hurriedly, grabbed her rucksack and practically ran out the tent, straight into Miss. Graham.

"Shannon?" the sports teacher asked.

"Yes, Miss?" Shannon replied, moulding her face into what she hoped was a convincing smile, and not complete and utter panic.

"Where's Maddy and Jana? I thought they would be up by now."

_I thought they would be back by now. _Shannon thought.

"They're just getting dressed." She said casually.

Miss Graham nodded and walked on. Shannon wiped the fake smile off her face, thinking. _I need to find Tom, and I need to find him now. _Shannon sprinted over to the boys tents, where Tom was already up and looking incredibly worried. He saw her and walked over.

"Have you seen Rhydian?" He asked, keeping his voice low. Mr. Jeffries had just passed by.

"No." Shannon replied, "and I haven't seen Maddy or Jana either. They can't have gone to the loo, since it would have been obvious if they had come in."

Tom's frown deepened.

"I'm grabbing my phone." He said, running back to the tent. He came out a few seconds later, with it in his hand. "Nothing." Tom said in response to Shannon's panicked look.

"They had their phones." She cursed herself for allowing her voice to break slightly, for the fear to creep in. "Why didn't they text?"

Tom looked over her shoulder and his eyes widened.

"Oh no. Oh _no."_

"What?" Shannon spun around. Jimi, Sam and Liam were walking out of their tent, a triumphant look on their faces and a phone in Jimi's hand. Something clicked in Shannon's brain, and she experienced the terrifying sensation of realising exactly why 3 of her friends were missing.

"Oh no…" she whispered and was about to walk over to Jimi when Tom grabbed her by the elbow.

"Don't." Tom said urgently, "You don't know if they actually have any evidence of Maddy being a Wolfblood. If you go over there it might just raise their suspicions. We don't even know if they have anything to _do _with Maddy, Rhydian and Jana's disappearances."

"Oh, and what's the chances of that?" Shannon retorted, feeling anger flow through her veins. "Liam's been on Maddy's case since Aern's Hollow." She yanked her elbow from Tom's grip and stalked off, her hands clenched into fists. The three boys saw her immediately, identical grins spreading over their faces. Jimi held the phone over his head tauntingly.

"You worried about your friends?" he asked as Sam smirked.

"What did you do?" Shannon said angrily, and it took all her energy not to shout.

"We know what they are." Said Liam, and there was an almost wary look on his face. "We know what your friends are, and we have proof."

"They're my friends!"

"They're werewolves." Liam's voice was filled with disgust. "That's why you stopped talking about your beast. You realised, didn't you?"

Shannon paused, momentarily dumbfounded by how much Liam had concluded.

"There not werewolves." She said at last. It was true, anyway.

"They're not humans, though. What else would you call someone who turned into a wolf every full moon?"

Shannon decided that she needed to try another tactic.

"Seriously, were you guys dropped on the head as babies?" she asked, glaring around at the three of them. Jimi shrugged, still grinning. "It's not even scientifically possible, let alone remotely _plausible._" She scoffed. "How're you going to look when you accuse your classmates of being non-human, let alone werewolves?"

Liam raised his voice.

"Stop defending them, Shannon! They're not human and they're not an animal, either! They're monsters!"

_That does it! _She thought angrily.

"No they're not!" Shannon shouted, completely beyond any point of reason now. "And they don't deserve to be treated as such! How would you like to be hunted down?!"

"Monsters, Shannon, and you know it!"

Shannon lunged for Liam, furious. Blood was pounding in her ears, it didn't matter about the amount of detentions she would get for it. He had no right to talk about Maddy, Rhydian or Jana like that!

"Enough!" Mr Jeffries wrenched Shannon away, and she fell backwards, landing in the leaves. Her rucksack went flying several metres away and ankle twisted painfully. Mr Jeffries stood in between her and an angry Liam. "What is this about?!" Neither of them said anything. Jimi stepped forwards instead, holding out a phone.

"No!" Shannon shouted, but the video was already playing and her ankle hurt too much to stand on at the moment. Mr Jeffries eyes widened.

"W-what?" he asked, and Shannon would have pitied him, had the situation not been so dire.

"Sir." She said cautiously, "Sir, I can explain-"

Liam butted in.

"They're werewolves, Sir. They're dangerous."

"I-I don't understand-"

"They're dangerous, Sir. One nearly tore Jimi's hand of, didn't it? They could attack a fellow student at any time!"

Poor Mr. Jeffries looked completely confused.

"They're not dangerous!" cried Shannon desperately. "They're not monsters! Please, Sir-!"

Jeffries turned around.

"I need to think." He said, sticking his head in his hands. "And I'm confiscating that phone. Yours too, Shannon."

"Sir!" Jimi and Shannon yelled out in unison.

"PHONE!" He yelled, and Shannon stood up, reluctantly taking her phone out of her pocket. Jimi did the same. Mr. Jeffries took them.

"Does Tom know about this?" He asked, his voice low. Jimi nodded, and Shannon cursed Liam, Sam and Jimi under all the swear-words imaginable.

"They're not dangerous! They're normal students! Please-" Shannon said, trying to be calm and failing miserably.

"I NEED TO THINK!" Mr. Jeffries screamed, and he looked positively demonic. Half the class turned to look as he strode off, demanding Tom to hand in his phone. The three boys ran back to their tent as Tom came up to Shannon.

"What happened?" he whispered. Shannon filled him in, feeling as though she had just swallowed a large bucket of very cold water. When she had finished, Tom looked how she felt. Shannon grabbed her rucksack from the ground, feeling its usual heavy weight in her hands.

"I'm going to _kill _that Liam-"

"Don't, Tom. I mean it." She gave a shaky laugh. "Mr. Jeffries has Jimi's phone, and the proof on it. If Jeffries doesn't share it, if he keeps the secret, then Liam's got nothing on Maddy, Rhydian or Jana. No doubt they've run, anyway. They'll be safe."

"If Jeffries keeps the secret, though… We need to find them. They can't be heading back to Stonybridge-"

"since there's too many humans." Shannon felt her usual detective instinct kicking in, but it did nothing to soothe her fear. "They might just end up hiding in the woods…"

"Nah." Tom said, shaking his head. "They know Liam is after them…" Shannon furrowed her eyebrows, thinking. Inspiration struck her.

"Jana!" she cried. "Jana's pack! Where's the safest, closest pack that we know of?" She asked, and could see understanding dawn in Tom's eyes.

"Jana is with them, so she'd know where it is…Didn't Rhydian say it was in the nor-" Tom was cut off suddenly by a series of pinging noises. Shannon felt her stomach drop to the ground and everything seemed very faint and far away. _Oh no. _Shannon thought. _No, this can't be happening…_

At the other side of the camp, Katrina retrieved her phone from her handbag and scrunched up her face.

"_Werewolves?" _She asked, her voice ringing out through the tents. "I thought Liam gave up on that theory months ago!"

Shannon was surprised how fast her heart could beat. "They must've videoed it on another phone, too." She said, looking at Tom.

"I think we'd better run." He said, and Shannon nodded. There was no question about it: they needed to get to Rhydian, Maddy and Jana as fast as possible.

Shannon hitched her rucksack over her shoulders, oblivious to the pain in her ankle, and ran into the north side of the woods, ignoring the shouts behind her.


	5. Worry, Hope and a Silver Bullet

**A/N: I have now updated! I had soooo much homework... It's almost the holidays, though, so I'll be able to write more.**

Maddy hurt. She hurt all over. But specifically in her right hand. A deep hole had been shot through, and somewhere in there lay a silver bullet, slowly poisoning her. The hand was going to go numb, Maddy knew, but somehow it didn't bother her much. Nothing really did. _It was strange_, she thought, staring up at the wooden roof of the shed Jana had found,_ but everything seemed to spin. _Maddy almost smiled, it was so ridiculous, but her lips hurt, so she didn't. Somewhere to her right Jana and Rhydian were arguing, but their voices were faint. Maddy closed her eyes, willing her pounding headache to go away.

"Maddy?" someone asked, and she cracked open an eyelid. Rhydian stood before her, blurry and _spinning. _"We're going to get a vet, alright?" _A vet. _Maddy supposed that the word should've made her scared, but it didn't. "And we need you in wolf form. Can you do that?"

The words cut through Maddy's haze of pain, and she nodded. Concentrating, she forced her bones to change, fur to sprout and within the second, she was a wolf. Her hand -paw- still hurt though. Jana and Rhydian picked her up, making her head hurt even more. Everything felt very fuzzy. Jana was talking again, but Maddy was too tired to listen. She was so tired.

* * *

Jana sat on a paint-tin, next to the small table. Rhydian stood next to the table, his worry clear. He twisted his hands, unclenching and clenching his fists. The vet had laid a cloth over Maddy, who was now asleep. Jana had never been more terrified for someone in her life. She was shaking and close to tears. _She's not dead. _Jana said to herself, but couldn't help adding _Not yet. _The vet dug a bit more into Maddy's paw, trying to reach the bullet. If the wound proved too deep, she had said, the only choice left was to cut off the paw. Jana's skin crawled at that very thought. The next few minutes were nerve-racking, broken by the occasional clink of the metal vet instruments that seemed more suited to some medieval dungeon. The vet, thankfully, hadn't questioned the fact that a wolf -a species extinct in England for over a century- was lying on a table in an abandoned shed. The most she had done was raise her eyebrows curiously and then open her vet box. Jana stuck her head in her hands, hoping that the bullet hadn't poisoned Maddy beyond repair. Jana knew from the one time -so long ago- a cub had been shot by a farmer, that a normal bullet didn't poison the victim _that_ quickly, and suspected the bullet shot at Maddy was silver. It was just like Liam, to go off and hunt "werewolves" with silver bullets and a musket. Jana wiped a tear away and looked up. This was not Alpha material. She needed to be strong and brave, like Maddy. _She's more an Alpha than me _Jana realised, and suddenly the horror at what Liam had done tripled.

The vet let out a little "Aha!" and smiled triumphantly.

"What?" Rhydian asked, close to panicking completely.

"The bullet." She said, "I can see it. If I can just get it out…"

Jana and Rhydian held their breath, watching the vet. A minute passed, then another. Finally, she held up a little, shiny object, perfectly round and covered in blood. Jana flinched backwards. She remembered about three years back, when Aran had come into contact with silver when he was out on a trip with Alric. The scars hadn't faded one bit. The vet studied it, her eyebrows drawing together. She looked at Maddy, then again at the bullet.

"Silver…" she said curiously. Rhydian fidgeted, eager to draw the vet's attention away from that particular line of thought.

"Don't you have to stitch her up again?" Jana asked, a tad harsher than she meant to be. The vet nodded, put the bullet down, and began to stitch Maddy's paw up. The needle passed through the flesh and Jana cringed. _I would never be a healer, _she thought. She looked away. A while later, the vet stood up, and started talking to them about how to make sure the "wolf" was healthy. Jana faded the vet's voice out, and waited until the vet had left the shed. Jana stood up and moved closer to Maddy.

"Is she still asleep?" she asked Rhydian. He was about to answer when Maddy's eyes started to open. With squeals of joy and relief, Rhydian and Jana embraced Maddy in a crushing hug.

"We were so scared." Rhydian said, as Maddy transformed back into human form.

"Well, that's nice." she replied, wincing. "You didn't have any faith in me at all, did you?"

The three of them started to laugh, as the happiness of a great worry being lifted off their shoulders overcame them. Jana was grinning ear to ear.

* * *

An hour later, the three of them stood by the edge of the roadside. They had stopped smiling, their mood grim and sullen. No cars had passed it since they had been there. The sky was grey and big fat raindrops fell from the clouds. Maddy watched them, trying to keep her mind off of the throbbing pain in her hand. At least it was only her hand that hurt now. The world wasn't spinning, either.

"So what are we going to do?" Rhydian asked, chucking up his hands. "We can't stay here, and we can't go back to Stonybridge."

"Why not?" Jana looked at him in bewilderment. Maddy raised her eyebrows.

"Too many humans. Liam had _cameras_, Jana. You know what Liam's like. He'll have shown the video to everyone by now. If- if we go back to Stonybridge, we'll be hunted…" Maddy faltered, seeing understanding dawn on Jana's face.

"And we'll never hear the end of it." she said softly. Then she frowned, an angry glint in her eye. "We have to do something!" Jana crossed her arms. "We can't just _run!_"

"And what do you suppose we do?" Maddy snapped. Jana sighed, brushing away a few raindrops.

"We go back? Steal the cameras? Intimidate Liam? We don't _know _Liam released the videos, do we?"

Rhydian stepped forwards.

"Jana, think about it. Liam probably did. Even if he hasn't, and we go back, he'll just get more evidence. More videos, more evidence… We'll be turned into lab-rats."

Jana's eyes filled with anger, but it was obvious she wouldn't risk it. Jana knew the difference between brave and foolish. Maddy looked up at the sky and the rain. It was hard to believe that less than 24 hours ago, she had hardly a care in the world. Her hand continued to throb.

Rhydian got his phone out of his pocket.

"What're you doing?" Maddy snapped, staring at the phone as if it might explode.

"Relax." He said, pressing the screen. "I'm ringing Tom."

Maddy breathed outwards in relief. The phone rang. It kept ringing. Finally, an annoyed Rhydian hung up.

"He's not answering."

"We figured that." Said Maddy sharply. She began to panic again, her breath quick and shallow. "Why didn't you think about that earlier?"

"In case you_ didn't notice_, you were half _dead_. I was stressed, okay?"

The two glared at each other, silently daring their opponent to retort. Maddy looked away, though she could feel her veins turning black.

"Call Shannon." She said finally.

Jana started to fidget.

Rhydian rang, but the result was the same.

"Nothing!" he was about to stick his phone in his pocket when he stopped. He frowned.

"What?" Jana asked, her eyes wide.

"Your parents." Rhydian turned to Maddy. Her heart nearly stopped beating. "Your parents

-we have to warn them. If Liam or someone else comes around-"

Maddy felt her eyes go yellow and she stuck her head in her hands. This couldn't be happening. _This couldn't be happening._ Her parents! Mum, dad! What were they going to do? What was _she _going to do? Not go back to Stonybridge, and she couldn't survive in a _garden shed._ Suddenly, a thought struck her, and she lifted her head out of her hands.

"Jana's pack." She said suddenly. Both Rhydian and Jana looked confused.

"What?" they said in unison.

"Jana's pack." Maddy repeated it. "We can go to Jana's pack. We can tell mum and dad about it too, so they can come."

Rhydian started to text Maddy's parents. Jana thought about it, staring up the sky.

"They'll have to accept you." The red headed girl said at last. She seemed resigned to the fact that the secret was out, making Maddy wonder whether she'd had to move because of humans before. "It'll take time, though. We can't run there -you need all the strength you have."

Maddy sighed, mentally cursing Liam and his stupid silver bullets.

"D'you know which way the pack is?" Rhydian asked, spinning around, staring at the expanse of trees before them. Jana twisted her head and wrinkled her nose a bit, before nodding, and began walking away from the road.

"Follow me." She said simply.

Maddy turned, looking back at the last piece of the human world she might see for days, before hurrying after Jana and Rhydian. Her hand was still hurting.

* * *

**A/N: Hope you liked reading! Please review!**

**Thank-you!**

**:P**


	6. Stressful Times

Daniel's phone sat on the kitchen top. It pinged -a message had come through. Daniel put down his cup of coffee, leant over and picked it up. _Rhydian. How strange._ He read the message.

_LIAM VIDEOED US LAST NIGHT. THE SECRET IS OUT. MADDY, JANA AND I ARE ON THE RUN. WE WILL MEET YOU AT JANA'S PACK. UP NORTH. _

At first Daniel thought it was some kind of prank, but the sinking in his heart told him otherwise. He stood up, wobbling the table and nearly knocking over his chair. The coffee cup teetered, spilling its contents everywhere, and Daniel snatched his phone out of the way just in time. He was reeling – he could feel his eyes going yellow.

"Emma!" he yelled, running outside, where Emma was picking a few flowers. "Emma!" Emma looked up and immediately ran to Daniel.

"What?" She asked, "Daniel, _what_?"

He showed her the message, and she went white, dropping her fistful of flowers, her hand going to her mouth.

"What if Liam comes here?" she asked, panicking.

"I don't know, but Rhydian wants us to go to Jana's pack-"

"And _how _exactly do we know where they are? Wild packs like that, they roam, never settling down in one place-"

"Eolas?" Daniel asked hopefully.

"I'm _not _using Eolas." Emma's voice was final. Daniel winced, then put his head in his hands, thinking. He got out his phone, messaging Rhydian.

"I'm asking him where the pack is now." He explained. Daniel's initial panic was settling down, replacing itself with a heavy, leaden feeling. A few minutes passed.

"He says the pack's in a wood up north called Blue Forest."

"Well, that's helpful." Emma said, her voice laced with sarcasm. "What're we supposed to do, search the whole wood?"

"It can't be _that_ big. If we take the car, we'd get there quicker." Daniel ran his hand through his hair.

"What about our pups? I don't want to leave them-"

"We're better off in small groups. They've got Jana, they'll be fine. Emma, they can look after _themselves. _Stop worrying."

He winced as soon as the words were out of his mouth. Emma's eyebrows shot up.

"_Stop worrying?!" _She spat furiously. "Do you even _realise _the danger we're in? Our _pups _are in?"

Daniel held up his hands defensively.

"I shouldn't have said that." Daniel said hastily. "But we don't even know where Maddy is. Or the others. We'd be better off following their instructions."

Emma groaned and put her head in her hands.

"I suppose we'd better go." She said finally, her panic dissipated. "I'll pack a few bags, you get the car ready."

She got up and walked over to the house. Sighing, Daniel made his way to where the car was parked.

* * *

Mr Jeffries was not having good day. He was, in fact, having a _bad_ day. No, scrap that. What with the Werewolf Video, Maddy, Rhydian and Jana disappearing and now two _more _students running off into the woods, the word _bad_ was the understatement of the century. And he was a history teacher. He should know. Bad didn't even begin to cover it. It was no wonder his nerves felt as though they had been stretched past the thinness of paper.

Jeffries drummed his fingers against the side of the bus, counting the students clambering on to make sure that there was no-one left behind -excepting the five who had disappeared. He was going to lose his job. His entire career, life ambitions. Everything. The school would be held responsible, parents would pull their kids out, police, investigators-

Mr Jeffries really needed that cup of coffee.

And those idiotic kids back.

They'd probably get expelled.

Why on earth Liam and his gang had to send the video of his classmates turning into werewolves to the entire year group was beyond him. Sure, Shannon (who now turned out to be the not so weird weirdo Mr Jeffries had thought her to be and was instead protecting her friends) had been obsessed with "The Beast", but when she realised it was actually her friends, she had the good sense to keep her mouth shut.

"Those silly kids." Miss. Graham said behind Tim, making him jump. "Running off into the woods like that. What were they thinking?"

Tim shrugged. Miss. Graham had seen the Werewolf Video as well, but her shock had worn off relatively quickly. It had been replaced with a heated discussion on the need to get the remaining students back to Stoneybridge.

Tim forced himself to stop drumming on the side of the bus.

"Werewolves." He said. "_Werewolves."_

"It's quite the surprise."

Jeffries snorted.

"You realise we're going to have to tell the police about this." He said. Miss. Graham folded her arms and told the last of the students to hop on the bus and quit fooling around. She turned to Tim.

"We'll just say that it's some photography trick. That's what I thought at first. If Sam and Jimi hadn't been so insistent…" A frown deepened her forehead. "We'll have to tell the parents about the disappearances. They won't like that."

It was like a nightmare, the kind of nightmare that gave Tim headaches and brought panic attacks. Only it was real-life, the kind you can't wake up from. He stuck his head in his hands for a few moments before climbing onto the bus. The students were all whispering excitedly. It was a good thing Mr. Jeffries had taken their phones off them, even if it meant that they grumbled and complained. Better than that video going viral. Their annoyance wasn't going to be anything like the Head's, or the parents. Their parents would pick them up when they got back to school, and that meant yelling and screaming and questions as to why the bus had come back three days early or why and how five students had abruptly disappeared into the woods-

Yes, Mr. Jeffries really needed that cup of coffee.

* * *

**A/N: Considering I now have a lot of time on my hands and NO HOMEWORK I will be working on this story nonstop. With luck I'll have finished at least two more chapters by the next full moon (14th of October 2019) and the rest of the story by the end of the year. While this chapter was kind of boring, next chapter I plan to follow Liam and co. a bit more -I've already planned to incorporate some old friends (and enemies - think poppies). **

**I'll update hopefully early next week, possibly around Monday or Tuesday (Australian Time).**

**ALSO! There has been 250 views to this story and I'm really happy! Thanks to all those who read this, and GO WOLFBLOOD!**

**ALSO ALSO! I plan to incorporate Maddian into this story in the near future because it would be impossible not to.**

**Thankyou and please review! :P**


	7. Exile, Flowers and an Old Creepy House

**(Set the same day as the previous chapter (which is set the day after the full moon))**

If Mr. Jeffries thought his conversation with the Head was bad, he had yet to reckon with the force of Shannon's parents. At the first glance of Mr Jeffrie's troubled face at their door, the Kelly's ushered him in, hastily sitting him down at a wooden table. The conversation hadn't started very well, and after the first few introductions, it seemed to only get worse.

"Is everything all right? Shannon- what about the camp-" Lisa Kelly stuttered, her panic evident.

"Shannon and her friend Tom Okanawe -I believe you know him- ran off into the forest early this morning. Th-they ran after their friends Maddy Smith, Rhydian Morris-"

"I knew he was a bad kid." Frank said vehemently. "Why'd they run?"

Mr. Jeffries hesitated.

"We-we don't know." He took a deep breath and continued. "Jana Vilkas also went with them. The other parents have been notified, as has the Head. There will be a meeting with the Police tomorrow and they will be interviewing people connected to the students.

It's unknown exactly where the missing students are, but searches will be made-"

"Tomorrow?! That's not good enough!" Lisa said shrilly. "She's our daughter!"

"Mrs Kelly-"

Then there was an outburst of angry and frightened yelling and Mr. Jeffries barely escaped, clambering over the garden fence at the last minute and pedalling furiously away on his bicycle.

* * *

Since no-one knew where Jana Vilkas lived, Mr. Jeffries instead went to Maddy's house. _The werewolf's house_, he thought worriedly. The car wasn't there, and when Mr. Jeffries knocked on the door, no-one answered. He peered through the windows, checking if anyone was home. Through the lacy curtains he saw a mug of coffee splattered over the kitchen table, vases smashed on the floor.

"What the…"

They'd obviously left in a hurry. Maddy must have rung or texted them, told them about the video. Mr. Jeffries hoped so, anyway. It would just add to the confusion if the Smiths came back with their house burgled and their werewolf daughter running rampant through the woods.

He wondered if they knew what their daughter was. Probably. Maybe _they _were werewolves too. Oh, this was all too confusing. _Werewolves _weren't even supposed to exist!

Mr. Jeffries sighed, knowing that there was no point staying there while the Smith's were out. They could be hours.

Next stop- the Vaughans. Jeffries was _not _looking forward to this.

* * *

Less than 24 hours later, but very, very far away, a figure clutched his tangled hair, dropping to his knees.

"No!" He screamed in anguish, tears clouding his vision of the sky dotted with stars. "No!" He was uncontrollable -shaking, hysterical. The wolfbloods who had stood around him only minutes before had now left him, silent as the wind. "Why? Why?!" The animals had gone quiet, unsure what to make of this wailing figure. "No… NO! No! Please… please no…"

The Wolfblood's name was Alric. Father of Jana, the once-leader of the pack. But when he suggested another attack at Rhydian Morris, he was met with mutinous glares and snarling faces. His decisions were now greeted with hostility, outright defiance by his own pack. The ones who were supposed to look up to him. The respect others had for Alric was drained, disappeared. His position as Leader of the Pack had tumbled. He had tried to hold everyone together, but that time was long gone. He had been exiled, _exiled, _and he had nowhere to go…

Unless…

Several hours passed before Alric dazedly got up, tipping his head up to the moon. He uttered one last, lonely howl and then padded off between the trees, into the darkness.

He was a pack leader no more.

* * *

**(The Next Day)**

"Remind me why we're here again?" Jimi asked, tipping his head back to look at the ancient house with its dusty windows and mossy stones. "Looks like something out of a horror movie."

"Because they know about werewolves." Liam said. "I searched around on the web. This is where the legend of the Mottled Poppy comes from."

"The mottled _what_?" Sam asked incredulously.

"Poppy. When the spots appear, the wolf is near."

Jimi snorted. "What's _that _out of, a nursery rhyme?" he paused. "So, are we just going to stand here or are we going to go inside?"

"I rang. They should know we're here."

Liam broke off as the front door opened. An old lady stood there, with a short brown bob and a lacy cardigan.

"Oh, Hello dearies. Are you Liam?"

Liam nodded. "Yeah. This is Jimi, and this is Sam."

The old lady smiled at the other two boys.

"How nice to meet you. My name's Mary Driscoll. Will you come inside?" She ushered the trio inside, Jimi and Sam both glancing nervously around. Liam couldn't help thinking that maybe he should've stayed away from creepy houses and fellow werewolf hunters.

* * *

The five of them sat around a roaring fire, seated on plush couches and armchairs. They had been joined by Bob Driscoll, an old man with a white beard and a flat-cap, who was Mary's husband.

"Unbelievable." Mary whispered, staring at the video on Liam's phone.

"To think they mix with other children…" Bob said.

Liam paused the video, pointing out the three faces illuminated in the moonlight.

"See, here? These are the werewolves we're looking for."

Bob pointed a gnarled finger at Maddy.

"We know her." He said in his raspy voice.

"She came here with her friends and parents several months ago." Mary added. Jimi and Sam looked at each other. "We knew she was a werewolf immediately. The Poppies never lie."

Liam glanced up at the mantelpiece, where a vase of white, dead-looking flowers stood.

"Do they really detect werewolves?" Sam asked.

"Aye." Mary said. "We grow them on the estate. Old Lord Harfire carried a bunch around all the time."

"Before he was sent off to the asylum." Bob said darkly.

Jimi frowned. "Who's Lord Harfire?"

"He was a werewolf hunter. He used to live here. They thought he was crazy, but he wasn't."

"Like Abraham Hunter!" Liam said excitedly. "He's my ancestor. I've got his diary in my bag."

"Yes, I could see you have werewolf hunter blood in your veins." Bob mused, staring at Liam. "One day Lord Harfire will return. Until then, we shall continue his work by ourselves."

There was silence in the room.

"Is that a real blunderbuss?" Jimi asked suddenly, pointing to an ancient looking gun standing on a cabinet.

"Indeed. Do any of you know how to shoot one?"

"I can shoot a musket." Liam volunteered. "I shot one of the werewolves with one."

Bob nodded thoughtfully. He turned to Mary. "Should we show them the study?" he asked. Mary nodded, standing up.

"We have a room where we keep notes on the beasts. We run all _kinds_ of tests. Follow me."

Everyone stood up, following Mary down a hallway and into a little alcove with a bookcase. She turned a handle stuck on the wall and the bookcase slid to the side, revealing a secret room.

"Woah." Liam whispered, gazing in awe at the detailed drawings of werewolf transformations, the test tubes sitting in spindly little racks, the hundreds of rolls of handwritten notes- this beat even Abrahams ginormous collection. Two lights swung lazily from the ceiling, bathing the tiny room in a rustic, eerie light. This was the answer to all his questions, the place where Liam wasn't seen as crazy or delusional.

"This is amazing." He said finally. Jimi and Sam both were pretty impressed as well. Bob grinned.

"Welcome to Harfire Hall."

* * *

**A/N: Ooh, the plot thickens... **

**I'll update hopefully this Friday (Aussie Time) and then I'll probably update every Tuesday like I was doing before.**

**Also: 7 chapters, 24 pages in a Word Document and over 290 ****views! **

**Thank-you to everyone who reads this Fanfic! Go Wolfblood!**


	8. Moments of Beauty

**(This chapter is set three days after the full moon (one day after Liam goes to Harfire Hall))**

* * *

Maddy watched the light dance between the trees; the golden, flickering rays of the sun grow ever longer. She had an empty, cold feeling in her. Happiness didn't seem to matter anymore. At the back of her mind was a tingle of fear, ever present, always there.

There was a rustle behind her as someone made their way through the sea of autumn leaves.

"Hi, Rhydian." She said as he sat down beside her. Rhydian drew his knees up and wrapped his arms around them, in the old familiar position Maddy was so used to.

"Hey, Mads." He replied. It was striking how pale his eyes were, the way they glinted in the afternoon sun. "Jana's gone to get some food."

"She can hunt better than I can." Maddy tried a small smile, but it slipped off her face.

"Yeah."

They were silent for a few minutes more. The shadows were getting longer, but they were also getting darker. Within a few hours they would be gone. Maddy, Jana and Rhydian all had decided to rest in a bit of forest, far away from humans. It was quiet and peaceful, but it only made Maddy feel more lost.

"How's your hand?" Rhydian asked, indicating to the bloodied bullet-wound wrapped in ripped T-shirt.

Maddy sighed. "It's getting better. Still hurts, though."

Rhydian frowned, the little scar on his forehead scrunching up.

"Just- Why'd he do that?" he said finally.

"Who, Liam?"

"Yeah! Why'd he have to go and shoot you in the paw?" He paused. "With a _musket gun?_"

Maddy shrugged. She'd turned this over and over in her mind, but she couldn't find an answer. "'Cause he's Liam?" she said at last. "He's a creepy wierdo, Rhydian. That's what creepy wierdos do."

"I hate him, Mads."

"I know."

"I can't believe he did that to you."

"I can't believe he _filmed _us." Maddy sighed, her brown hair drooping in front of her face. "I should've gone to the tunnels. This is my fault. I'm sorry."

Rhydian gripped her arm.

"Look at me, Mads." Maddy turned to face him. "_It's not your fault._ Don't you _ever _think that again, do you understand me?"

Maddy stared into those pale blue eyes, her own filling with tears. She leaned into Rhydian, who gave her a confused look before returning the hug.

"But it _is _my fault, Rhydian!" She sobbed. "If I hadn't transformed in Aern Hollow, If I hadn't jumped out at Liam when he went back to investigate the tunnels, If I hadn't stayed back in the woods last Full Moon- This is all my fault, Rhydian, don't you see?" Rhydian didn't say anything. "Now Mum and Dad have to leave, the whole world knows our secret and we didn't even say goodbye to Tom and Shannon. Liam's probably hunting us on some deluded heroic quest, too. It's just- I'm so sorry…"

Maddy sat back, wiping her eyes miserably. Rhydian was sad as well, the afternoon light only highlighting this. He was so handsome, so perfect…

"Look, some of it's my fault too." He said gently. "I should've made you go to the tunnels. I shouldn't have tried to bite Jimi." His tone got darker. "Really, it's all Liam's fault. He had a _choice, _Mads, and look what he chose to do!"

"Yeah. Liam the Werewolf Hunter."

Rhydian laughed, shaking his head. "Who would have thought?"

Maddy looked again at Rhydian, his pale hair, his blue eyes, the little scar in the centre of his forehead. A strand of dark hair fell in front of Maddy's eyes, but she didn't push it behind her ear. They were so close, the golden sunlight dancing around them, twinkling, a moment of beauty in a bleak and desperate future. They were so close, their noses almost touching. _Close enough to kiss_, Maddy thought dazedly. There was something in Rhydian's eyes, almost like fire, yet it was kind, not terrifying. A breath of wind stirred up strands of hair, bringing with it smells of forest and wilderness. Neither of them moved, frozen in time, so close…

The sound of breaking twigs and rustling leaves made them snap their heads around in alarm, but it was only Jana. She had an armful of herbs and animal carcases, stumbling back to the top of the hill where the two were sitting.

The sun sank over the hills, the shadows disappearing. The moment of golden peace was over.

The hollow, empty feeling returned to Maddy, as if it had never left. _I'll always be here, forever and ever and ever, _it seemed to whisper. Rhydian got up to help Jana with the food. Maddy tipped her head back to watch the light fading from the sky. It seemed, that like the sky, the light was fading from her life, and there was nothing she could do about it.

* * *

Shannon trudged through piles of leaves, fighting the hopeless feeling in her stomach. She was _Shannon, _and she would never give up.

"Come on, Tom!" she called in a false, cheery voice. "Follow the ivy!"

"Yeah, I think I'd rather trust a _compass_, Shan."

"Well, we don't have one_, _Tom."

Tom stumbled up to her. "It's _night, _Shannon. My flashlight's half dead-" he waved it around pathetically, the flickering light glinting off trees. "- not to mention I'm cold, I'm hungry and we're lost in the middle of a forest we know nothing about!"

Shannon stopped, glaring at him. "We're not lost!" she said angrily. She turned back, walking hurriedly on. She _would _find her friends. Just because she couldn't track someone with scent or use Eolas, didn't mean she couldn't find them.

All day long, and the two days before, Tom and Shannon had followed the chilling trail of dried blood, and when that failed, the several animal corpses that looked as though they'd been eaten by Wolfbloods. All the time, they'd been heading north, towards Jana's pack, though they had as much of an idea where _that _was as they did of their friends.

Five minutes later, they stumbled on a creek, the riverbanks wet, soggy mud from the rains from a few days before. It seemed like years ago.

Shannon crouched down. "Hey, Tom?" she called. Tom walked up behind her.

"I'm sorry, okay? I'm just worried-" he began, but Shannon wasn't listening.

"Do you think Maddy or the others could've made these tracks?" She pointed out the shoe-prints in the mud. They looked recent- and Shannon could've sworn Maddy had shoes with that exact print. She stood up, her heart thumping.

"It's a Wolfblood's, anyway." Tom said, jogging further down the riverbank. "They change to wolf-prints. There's some dead animal here- ew -and red hair. Jana's, probably."

Shannon followed him, shining her flashlight at the mud. The prints became more disfigured, until they evolved into wolf-prints. Peering more closely, Shannon could see that the prints indicated that Maddy's (if it was Maddy's paw-prints) right fore-foot was injured. She felt sick with worry. Shannon remembered the trail of dried blood she and Tom had followed, and felt even worse.

"They look recent." Shannon poked the tracks, wondering anxiously where her friends were now. Whether Maddy was okay. What had happened to her for those tracks to be like that.

"How do you know so much about tracking, anyway?" Tom asked, peering curiously at Shannon.

"I learnt how to track when I was obsessed with the Monster on the Moors." She paused. "I often spent the holidays tracking paw-prints for days on end."

"Oh." Tom said, then resumed following the tracks down the stream. "By the looks of it, Maddy, Jana and Rhydian went _this _way."

Shannon got up, going over to Tom. They jumped over the stream, where the mud ended and the piles of leaves began again.

"The tracks seemed pretty recent." Shannon said. "We're probably only a few hours behind them. Maybe half a day. Come on."

Tom grabbed her arm, gesturing to the star-filled sky.

"Shan? In case you didn't notice, it's the middle of the night. We've barely stopped."

Shannon sighed, knowing he was right.

"Fine. I've got matches in my rucksack. Couple of chocolate bars, too." She rummaged around while Tom hunted for firewood. After several minutes and a small squabble, they finally had a little fire going and were nibbling on chocolate bars.

"You've got everything in there." Tome remarked, indicating to the rucksack.

"Matches. Jumpers. Scarves. Snacks. Torches. Stuff like that."

"Except a compass." Tom said, grinning.

"Except a compass."

They were quiet, watching the warm glow of the fire. The tiredness Shannon had kept at bay for the past three days caught up with her.

"D'you think they'll send a search party out for us?" Tom asked suddenly. Shannon had been wondering about this too. It wouldn't be any good if a police-helicopter picked them up before they got to Maddy, Rhydian and Jana.

"Probably. They don't know where we are, though. We're a day ahead of them, at least."

Shannon leant against a tree trunk, feeling her bones ache with tiredness. Tom's eyes were drooping; he looked even more exhausted than her.

"Go to sleep, Tom." she said at last. "I'll keep watch over the fire."

The flames glowed and sparkled like jewels, lighting up the area. _It was_, she thought quietly, _a__moment of beauty, in a bleak and desperate future._


	9. The Battle

** A/N: So guess what? I've returned! But so has Liam and his werewolf hunting gang- this time with a information from an unwitting source (It's the exiled Alric, just to specify).**

* * *

Liam gripped the tranquiliser gun tighter, a mix of adrenaline and fear rushing through him. The car trundled along, sending clouds of dust up behind it. It was a shabby old thing, probably as old as the Driscoll's themselves. Every bump in the road rattled it around, and the trip was far from nice. Neither Jimi or Sam -who were sitting beside Liam- said anything. Their fists were clenched, staring out the windows at the wilderness beyond.

A few hours ago, as if by fate, a man had turned up at the Mottled Poppy gas station. He was -according to Bob- wild looking, with jagged teeth and an angry expression. He had wandered around the shop randomly before stumbling up to the counter, clutching his ears and demanding to be taken to Stoneybridge. Immediately, the poppies in their little glass vase had changed colour; the man was a werewolf.

Bob offered to take the man where he needed to go, though instead he drove him to Harfire Hall, trapping him in the barred cellar down below. The werewolf had rambled on madly for several minutes, screaming about walls closing in and exile, among other things. And so a discovery was made. There was a werewolf pack up north- and the Driscoll's knew where to find it.

"Are you sure this is the right thing to do?" Jimi asked, in a hushed voice so the Driscoll's wouldn't hear.

"What do you mean?" Liam replied.

"Hunting werewolves. Why do we even need these guns? We're not going to shoot one, are we?"

"Course not. It's to threaten them with- we're not _actually _going to shoot them. Just capture them. They're only tranquiliser guns."

"Still, I don't get what the point of this is."

Liam glared at Jimi.

"I thought you agreed to come with us." He said angrily. "If you're going to chicken out now-"

"Jimi's got a point though." Sam interrupted. "We've already got _one _werewolf. Why are we going off to capture more?"

"Why are you guys so against this?"

They didn't say anything, lapsing into silence once again.

"Here's the turnoff!" Mary said happily. They all got out, unpacking equipment. The boys carried a very large cage on their shoulders, and they walked through the woods, following the signs the werewolf had talked about. Liam could feel his friends uneasiness, even as excitement was pumping through his veins. He imagined yellow eyes staring at them through the trees, the growl of werewolves about to attack, and shivered.

They trudged on for what seemed like an hour before they got to the old rock the werewolf had unwittingly told them about. Mrs Driscoll pressed her finger to her lips, pointing. Liam felt his skin crawl. Over the top of a log, a pair of yellow eyes shone back at him.

* * *

Meinir ducked down behind the log.

"They've invaded our territory!" She snarled. "We should attack now, before it is too late!" Aran growled.

"They have _guns._ We should warn the others. We cannot fight humans on our own."

"Attack!"

Aran stuck his head over the log quickly, and stiffened. "No! They are coming this way! We must warn the others and hide!"

"They are coming?" Meinir repeated in fear. Aran nodded, watching her weigh the consequences. If the humans had guns and knew the pack was, there was no point fighting. A cub quickly learnt not to fight something that was bigger than itself, and that had been drilled into the siblings for years.

"Fine," Meinir said at last. "We warn the pack and then we hide."

"Good. Now we run."

They got up, ditching the safety of the log and running through the trees to the camp over the hill. There was a whistling sound and a thud. With a spike of fear, Aran span around to see Meinir hit the ground, unconscious. What kind of bullets were they, that they made Wolfbloods unconscious? The humans were aiming the gun at Aran now, so he shot off to the camp, vowing that he would get help for Meinir once the pack had been warned.

"Humans!" He yelled. "Humans over the hill! They are coming! They have a gun!" Everyone looked up, shock plastered on their faces.

"I told you something bad was going to happen!" Ceri shouted. Gwyn and Cadwr were shepherded away from the camp towards the dimly lit forest.

"We need to hide." Aran choked, as he stumbled down to camp. "Get everyone into the woods. _Now._"

Aran could _smell _the mounting fear, the increasing heartbeats of his pack. Worse than that, he could hear the pounding footsteps of the humans. If Alric had been here he would have known what to do… No. Alric had been exiled for a reason. The human steps got louder, and soon all Aran could think of was those strange guns and Meinir falling down. The pack scrambled towards the shelter of the trees, hiding under branches and blending in with the autumn leaves. He darted in with them, his breathing loud and heavy.

"Aran-" someone began, but he growled at them.

The pounding got louder, faster; humans appeared over the ridge of the hill. A woman, a man and a boy. They scanned the area, taking in the abandoned tents and scattered belongings. What had happened to Meinir? Aran worried. What had happened to his sister?

And -he barely dared to think of it- What would happen to his pack?

* * *

Liam stood there, feeling vulnerable without his musket. He only vaguely knew how to use a tranquiliser gun, and his previous confidence was slowly dwindling. Liam glanced nervously around the deserted tents fluttering in the breeze. Everything seemed so _quiet_…

"They have to be in the woods." Bob said at last, searching for yellow eyes or a flash of fur. "They know we're here."

"What do we do?" Liam asked, trying to stop his voice from shaking. Bob didn't answer.

The trees ringing the clearing were dark and foreboding. No birds chattered. Nothing rustled in the undergrowth. Liam could feel his heartbeat pounding against his ribcage. His eyes picked out the footprints leading out to the woods. There were so _many…_

In the blink of an eye, Bob Driscoll shot a tranquiliser dart through the trees, directly in front of him. There was an ear-splitting yelp, and all hell broke loose.

Werewolves darted out randomly, snarling and growling. Some tried to run into the forest again, but the Driscoll's aimed their guns at them. Liam reminded himself that the werewolves were _monsters, _but the echoes of Sam and Jimi's words remained. Everything was going so fast. Liam tried to aim his gun but he couldn't pinpoint where the werewolves were. Something ran towards him, howling ferociously. Fur sped past him, yellow eyes leaped out at him and Liam was pinned to the ground by a werewolf. It bared its teeth and all Liam could feel was terrible fear. His tranquiliser gun had been knocked out of his hands and lay several feet away. He was going to die.

The werewolf opened its mouth, revealing sharp teeth and- stopped. It let out a sigh, almost a wail, and collapsed, unconscious. Liam hastily wriggled out from under it.

"Thanks." He panted, seeing the tranquiliser dart poking out from the thing's left paw. Mary Driscoll nodded and continued to knock the last few remaining werewolves out.

Liam gulped. The clearing looked like a battleground, the unconscious werewolves (some of them in human form) like corpses. Bile rose in the back of his throat and he rushed behind the ridge of the hill.

When he had stopped vomiting (Sam and Jimi thankfully weren't there) he headed back up to the hill. Sam and Jimi had taken a different route over the hill, now standing there next to the cage with its gleaming metal bars.

Deep inside Liam, something was telling him this was wrong.

Deep inside Liam, something was telling him that proving the existence of werewolves might not be the best idea.

Deep inside Liam, something was telling him that Abraham Hunter might not have been the role model Liam had previously thought.

Liam pushed the thoughts away, struggling not to let his lunch come up again.

The Driscoll's were carrying the werewolves over to the cage. There must have been ten or so of them -Liam was sure there must have been more of them, but _something _prevented him from pointing this out- and not all of them were adults. As Mary and Bob dragged a young, blond-haired boy from a gap between the trees, Liam stopped, his heart pounding. The thoughts that had been clouding his brain since the conversation in the car came into focus. The werewolf didn't look like a werewolf. He looked like a six-year-old.

A six-year-old that they'd shot.

Liam made his way over to Jimi and Sam. Their faces were stony.

"Maybe…" Liam began, his voice trembling. "Maybe you were right."

"About what?" Sam asked, his tone flat.

"Maybe this isn't the right thing to do."

There was no answer. The clearing was still and quiet.

Mary Driscoll slammed down the door to the cage with a bang, breaking the silence. Liam, Jimi and Sam jumped and spun around, only to come face to face with a furious, glaring Mary. Who was angrily holding a tranquiliser gun.

"You three!" She barked "You are _not _going to leave! We may have gotten our werewolves but there are still more out there! These _werewolves_-" she spat out the word "-are not _people, _they are _monsters!_ They are dangerous. And if you _dare _threaten our mission, if you _at all_ come in our _way_," Mary lowered the tranquiliser gun and was joined by Bob -the result was menacing and spoke of power-"You might just go _missing_. _Forever_."

Liam gulped.

Yes, maybe this _hadn't _been the right thing to do.

* * *

**A/N: I seem to remember making a commitment a very long time ago that I would update that Tuesday...**

**Heh...heh...heh... oops.**

**In my defence, I've been assailed by everything from countless school assessments to writers block. I've also been staring at this chapter for a long time. I don't like it too much, so I'd be incredibly happy if anybody wanted to put any constructive criticism in the reviews. So please review!**

**Hopefully I'll update soon! :)**


	10. Unforeseen Events

**(Everything is set 8 days after the events of the previous chapter/15 days after the full moon)**

* * *

Daniel didn't really know where he was going. He didn't tell this to Emma, but as far as he could tell, he was just randomly driving around woodland uprooting native plants. It wasn't the _best _plan, really.

Yet whether some part of him could still do Eolas and he just didn't realise it, or whether he was going delusional and didn't know it, _something _was telling him where to go – a kind of tugging at his forehead. The problem was that Daniel didn't exactly know where that place was.

The woods were quiet – dusk had started to settle in. It looked as if him and Emma would have to spend the night sleeping in the car again. The car trundled slowly and steadily like some black beetle over dry, crunchy leaves. Emma had given up conversation a while ago. They were both too worried and tired to do much.

Every time he thought of Maddy black veins would creep up Daniel's arms. It was hard not to think about the danger she must be in – Rhydian and Jana too.

Could Liam be stalking them – even now? Daniel had met the kid a few times, recognised that streak of dogged determination immediately. It would take a miracle, Daniel thought, to get Liam Hunter to change his mind.

The sun had started to dip below the horizon now, casting long shadows across the ground.

The car passed logs, deer-trails and piles of dead branches.

The tugging at his forehead got stronger.

Branches. Logs. Trails. An old rock.

The car crunched over an assortment of autumn leaves, their colours momentarily blinding Daniel for a second. Somehow, he knew he was at the place. A burst of excitement shot through him as he stopped the car in front of the old boulder.

"I think we're here." He said to Emma.

"Huh?"

"This rock – I don't know why, but I feel as though we're supposed to be here."

Emma raised her eyebrows sceptically.

"An old rock _led _you here?"

Daniel shrugged. He knew it sounded ridiculous. They got out of the car, jumping onto piles of auburn leaves. The cars doors shut with a thunk.

To the left a path led up a small hill; Emma and Daniel followed it. After a minute they reached a small clearing.

Daniel stopped.

The tents were ripped.

The place was empty.

And the ground was covered in blood.

* * *

Mr Jeffries leaned back in his chair. For almost 2 weeks, Detective Inspector Bolton had been leading an investigation into what had first been seven missing person cases. But only a few days after last full moon, three others had been discovered missing – Sam, Jimi and Liam. Mr Jeffries was able to dismiss the "Werewolf Video" – as he now dubbed it- as some photography trick, and since it couldn't give any clues to the whereabout of the missing people, it was largely and gratefully ignored.

The police had searched everywhere in the surrounding area. Through dense forest, in streams and every place imaginable.

They had found no-one.

Out of ten people, they had found no-one.

Oh, and to make matters worse, Mr Jeffries now had a serious coffee addiction problem.

* * *

The wind whispered through the trees, swirling around Maddy. She shivered, cold in the icy night air. She didn't particularly care. She didn't really care about much anymore. Everything was gloomy and dark and her whole world had shattered. She was alone now. Maddy would always be on the run, never entirely safe, always being hunted by someone. It was inevitable.

Maddy's mind was tugged back to the present as the wind picked up and threw a handful of leaves into her face. Spitting them out, she noticed the rumble of voices coming from where Jana and Rhydian were sitting. They were talking in low voices, their heads close to each other. A prickle of something – it wasn't jealousy, surely – wormed its way into Maddy's heart. She began to get up, intent on destroying whatever private conversation the other two were having, but sat back down, instead opting to push her hair under her ear. Immediately, the voices became clear.

"-up with Maddy?" that was Rhydian, his tone anxious and worried. So they were talking about _her_, then.

"I don't know." Jana replied.

"She's so distant… Almost lonely. She's always quiet-"

"and sad."

"Yeah." Rhydian agreed. "I know that this… current problem has hit her hard, but she's never been like this before."

"Her family's in danger. She's worried."

"I know, it's just…" Rhydian paused. "Maddy seems so different."

"She's silent. She hardly talks." Jana glanced over at Maddy, who had turned away a few seconds before.

"And when she does, she's angry, or bursts into tears."

"It's almost as if…" Jana began, but stopped.

"As if what?" Rhydian asked.

"Almost as if she has the Morwal." Jana said.

Maddy froze. No. Nonono. She couldn't have the morwal, could she? Her wolf couldn't have changed, become aggressive, without her knowing? No. That was impossible. She was being silly. Her wolf was still her own, she was sure of it. Maddy didn't have the sudden urge to eat humans, or run around in the woods killing wildlife. Maddy was _fine. _But a niggling little feeling started to grow inside her. Irritated, she concentrated on Rhydian and Jana's conversation again.

"It's possible." That was Rhydian.

The two lapsed into silence for a while.

"D'you think Liam's following us?" Rhydian asked, his voice tinged with worry. Maddy could tell his heart was beating fast.

"He's Liam. Of course he is. He's probably tracking us right now. Him and his _friends_." Jana scowled.

"That's a nice thought." Rhydian muttered sarcastically, before returning to his sombre tone. "We have to be more careful. We should bury any animal bones we have."

"At least we can run faster than him."

"Not while Maddy's hand's like that."

"Stupid Liam." Jana moodily chucked a stone into the inky blackness of the night.

"Well, at least he didn't march up to us on the Full Moon with pitchforks and torches."

"What's a pitchfork?"

"Never mind."

An owl hooted in the distance, and Maddy covered her ear again with her hair. She could almost imagine Liam, Sam and Jimi creeping up on them right now. Maybe they _did _think Maddy, Rhydian and Jana were monsters, but they were all classmates. Liam and gang should've thought about that before destroying Maddy's world.

Perhaps Liam knew where they were. Perhaps he had been following them for days on end, slowly catching up. Perhaps he had already collected a gathering of followers and they'd been tracking wolf-prints and animal bones. A gang of Beast-Hunters, following, tracking, waiting for the right moment- Maddy was being paranoid. She needed to stop. That wasn't going to happen. She let out a breath, forcing herself to calm down.

Immediately, a strange smell wafted near her. The hiss of human voices fluttered past her ears.

And with a crackle of twigs, a shift of night air and a flurry of autumn leaves, a figure stepped out from the inky darkness, right in front of Maddy.

It wasn't a wolfblood.

It was a human.

* * *

**A/N: For the massive delay in uploading chapters, I can only blame a bad case of writer's block.**

**But I'm very excited for the coming chapters!**

**Please**** please please ****review!**

**Massive thank you to everyone who's following this story, you're awesome!**

**-Always A Dragon**

**Merry Christmas!**


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